"Alright."
The maid placed the wooden comb back on the table and thought to herself, the Third Auntie really doesn’t know how fortunate she is. The Pri Minister is so fond of her, yet she doesn’t cherish it in the slightest. She even often gives him the cold shoulder, which is almost too much to bear even for soone like her, a servant. One must ask, among all the concubines in the Pri Minister’s residence, who else would he ever tolerate to this extent?
Aside from Nineteenth Aunt, only the Third Auntie receives such favoritism, but she fails to appreciate it. She even dares to show her temper to the Pri Minister. Truly, she doesn’t know what’s good for her.
Although the maid felt this way inwardly, she wouldn’t dare show disrespect to the Third Auntie on the surface. After all, the Pri Minister was her backing. So, she respectfully uttered, "This maid bids her leave."
"Mm, go ahead," the Third Auntie waved her hand.
The maid turned and walked out.
"Ah!"
The Third Auntie gazed at her still youthful reflection in the mirror, feeling deeply lancholy. Her relationship with the Pri Minister was nothing short of a cursed affair. Back then, if only she had resolutely rejected him, today’s shattered family wouldn’t have co to pass. Thinking of her innocent and tragically dead son, the Third Auntie was filled with endless guilt.
Originally coming to the capital hoping to find a livelihood for her son, she never thought this place would turn into his burial ground.
Zhang San must hate her terribly, right?
If they were to et, what would happen?
Would he try to kill her?
Thinking of their past as husband and wife, the Third Auntie was overwheld by pain. Outwardly, in the Pri Minister’s residence, she basked in luxuries, wearing brocade clothes and always accompanied by a large retinue of servants wherever she went, her life seemingly glimring with splendor. But inwardly, she was tornted, bearing the daily burden of guilt on her conscience. All of her current grandeur was exchanged at the cost of betraying her family, and her young son’s life.
Sigh! So be it. What is destined will eventually co to pass. The debts owed must be repaid sooner or later.
The Third Auntie collected her emotions and headed toward the inner chamber. There, in secret, she had set up a small morial for her deceased son, offering three sticks of incense daily in hopes that he would ascend to blissful rest and be born into a good family in his next life.
Of course, all of this was done without the Pri Minister’s knowledge.
-------
Outside the city, in the suburbs.
In a dense forest, an excited voice rang out.
"Ah! We’ve finally made it out! This is amazing!"
Following that, two figures, one big and one small, erged from a graveyard. They were utterly filthy, their faces sared completely with either mud or ash, their hair a tangled ss resembling bird nests, making them look extrely disheveled. At a glance, one couldn’t tell them apart from beggars.
"Yeah, being alive is damn wonderful," the dwarf raised his face to the sky and howled.
In the pitch-black underground, they had walked for three days and nights with no food or water, believing that they would end up trapped in that dark and damp cave forever. Suddenly, they saw a gleam of light ahead. Thrilled yet wary, they feared it was another trick—like last ti when the light turned out to be emitted by the Luminous Pearl. But upon closer inspection, it turned out they had truly exited the cave. Their excitent erupted into cries and jumps of joy, the feeling of survival against all odds was indescribably exhilarating.
"It’s just darn unfortunate that only two gold bars remain," Zhang San pulled out two gold bars from his pocket, eyes scanning the large bundle of gold bars he’d been carrying on his back. Because of hunger and exhaustion, he couldn’t manage to carry them anymore, and many had been discarded.
The dwarf didn’t care much: "As long as we’re alive, money won’t be an issue."
Indeed, ever since he wandered the Itinerant World, whenever he ran out of money, he would simply rob wealthy households. To him, gold was never a concern.
"True, keeping our lives is the priority. We still haven’t avenged ourselves. If we were to die just like this, it would be doing our enemies too much of a favor."
"Keh keh keh...!"
The dwarf let out a piercing laugh, which sounded eerily unsettling amidst the silence of the forest.
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